The Reader

Tasawwuf Islam

Last week I was reminded by the ustaz who came to teach Qur'an and Arabic to my son about the importance of learning tasawwuf in order to enhance/complete our iman(kesempurnaan iman).His statement reminds me of another ustaz who taught us that Ilmu Fardu 'Ain( a must for every muslim/muslimah) consists of Tauhid, Fiqah and Tasawwuf.For most of us who did not go to religous school( I am one of them), our knowledge is limited to basic Tauhid and Fiqah and very little in Tasawwuf. I realised this lacking of knowledge when I crossed my 40's.

Most of us have heard of one long Hadith narrated by Saiyidina Umar al-Khattab r.a about Jibrail a.s came to Prophet Muhammad s.a.w and asked him about the meanings of Islam,Iman and Ihsan.To understand Ihsan ,we need the knowledge of tasawwuf-it articulates and discuss the issues of Ihsan.

If you wish to learn more about tasawwuf, I recommend the following books(all in Malay language):

1.Tasawwuf Moden by Dr Hamka(passed away)

2.Pengantar Tasawwuf Islam by Dr Musa Fatullah Harun( still teaching in KL)

May I remind myself and my fellow muslims/muslimahs to continously upgrading the breadth and depth of our knowledge on Islam.

Labour of Love

This weekend,my fellow Malaysians are going to enjoy a long public holiday due to Labour Day and Mauludirasul. To those who are going for a holiday or 'balik kampung',enjoy yourselves and be careful on the roads.

In conjunction with this year's Labour Day which falls on this coming Saturday,I am planning to compile an album of digital photos entitled " Labour of love" taken on that day(1st of May,2004) that shows the labour of love.As an example, there is one old lady in my neighbourhood,who walks along with her mentally- handicapped son EVERY morning for his morning exercise.There are many more examples of labour of love that you can think of.

May I request your co-operation to join me in taking a few photos this Saturday on a theme :LABOUR OF LOVE and please send to me via email.I hope to create that album by Monday 3rd of May,2004.

By the way, this is what I wrote on May Day four years ago.

Suara Air( Voice of Water)

I am very happy indeed that to-day I read in The Star the new minister in-charge of water is setting up a body(within the National Water Commision) to enable the public to voice their concerns for water supply services in our country,Malaysia. The minister also mentioned that privatised water companies were making millions but the water departments or authorities are losing millions at the same time.Is this model sustainable?
One water authority owes a water company about RM 1,100 millions! It takes two to Tango.

Yesterday, I was invited to attend a meeting for facilitators for the coming Malaysian Water Forum some time in June this year.I volunteer myself to this good cause so that all water stakeholders are given the chance to voice their needs and concerns in an organised platform.

What a coincidence with the Minister's statement!

One of the things that I learned in a lecture in Leading Change isthat all of us need to listen,to learn and then only we can lead.

Note: Full statement by the YB Minister is in the Star to-day.

Soya bean

During the last two weeks of hot days, I have been consuming at least a litre a day of soya bean drink.I was told it is good source of protein but it has bad side effects on men's fertility. But it does not bother me for I am too old to have kids!

By the way, I found out it is good for ladies to prevent breast cancers!

Just 'google' the words 'soya bean' , and then you will discover a lot of information on the subject matter.

Now, soya bean is a must buy drinks for me when I feel thirsty....

May I have comments from the readers about soya bean.Thank you.

J-QAF

The title of my posting today reads like some airline codes or cryptic message to pass secret information.If you were to read Berita Minggu front page to-day(Sunday 25/04/2004), then you know what I am referring to. J stands for Jawi( which I blog earlier) and QAF stands for Qur'an,Arabic and Fardu Ain. As a concerned parent who has been spending money to educate my children on these subjects,I humbly record my thanks and gratitude to the Ministry of Education ,Malaysia for such a move to bring back J-QAF into the main stream of our education system.Terima kasih! It is better late than never.

However,sad to say,the damage has already being done.My two children who are in their 20's have little knowledge on J-QAF and now I am doing damage control to my third son who is sitting for his PMR this year.

The impact made by a change in our education curriculum may affect a generation.

'Aqidah

"When it comes to 'aqidah, I will teach my own son",said my father to me a few decades ago. That was when I was in my teens.As a father,it reminds me all the time to ensure that my children have the right understanding of 'aqidah.As parents,we have to do it before our kids left us to start their own families or before we leave them. The sooner we do the better.If we are not knowledgeable in this subject,then it is imperative that we get someone capable to do it.

All of us must beware of Polytheism!

Polytheism can comes in two forms:

1.Polytheism in Allah's lordship(Rububiyat)

2.Polytheism in Allah's divinity(Uloohiyat).

Let me quote two short ayats (there are many more in the Qur'an):

1.Who is he that can interceed with Him except with His permission.(Al-Baqarah,2:255)

2.He rose above the throne.You have none,besides Him,as a protector or intercessor.(Al- Sajdah,32:4)

All of us muslims claim to be believers.Let us learn from those with knowledge to ensure that we are really true believers.It is good to find out what muslims must know, must be and must do in order to be true believers(al-mukminun).

The Ideal Muslimah

To all Muslimahs,

I have received a lot of enquiries for the above book.Regret to inform you that it is not yet available in Malaysia( to the best of my knowledge). However, some months back Mr Gabra has kindly told me via his posting at this blog that you can read it online. Below is the URL:

http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/humanrelations/womeninislam/idealmuslimah/

Jazakallahu Khairan to Gabra!

Wassalam,

Pak Adib

Response time

It took TNB one hour to get power back to KLCC when its TNB substation at Pudu malfunctioned two days ago. Guess how long did it take DBKL to repair a traffic light at Masjid Alam Shah near Kampung Pandan round about? It took them more than 24 hours and it caused a lot of inconvenience to road users . I was one of them who very mad( to say the least) about the attitude of those responsible to make good just a simple traffic light.We don't need rocket scientists to repair such things.Imagine a fire-engine or an ambulance got stuck at the junction? Life is at stake!

The police promises to be at the scence of the crime within 15 minutes,and I hope they have a system to deliver what they promise.I don't have any experience with the police( and I hope not) but that is how important time is!

Another example that I can mention here the time taken to repair burst pipes.The water department Customer Charter promises to attend to the job in less than 24 hours, but it took days sometimes.Promises without a good delivery system cannot be delivered to the customers.That was why our PM Pak Lah told the government departments to improve their DELIVERY SYSTEM some time in January this year.If nothing changes by end of this year, then I can conclude( to borrow my learned friend's words) ,it is business as usual:-(

It was so hot..

Last weekend I was in my kampung in Kelantan.When I arrived and was about to sit on the sofa at my mother's house,the cushion was so hot that my back sprang forward to avoid the heat! This is the first time in my life I felt that way.Maybe , global warming is real after all...

(I was told that there was no rains for the more than a month in many parts of Kelantan.)

When I wanted to take my bath that night, I got another shock. There was no water at all.Not only the tap runs dry but also the well that my grandad dug more than 50 years ago is literally dried up.When I was the Vice President of Malaysian Water Association some years back, I used to quote that we only know the value of our water when our wells run dry! And now, it is happening right in front of me.Despite having to wait until 10pm for water to arrive(due to its low pressure),I was grateful when I compared my situation with the Palestinians and the Iraqis.

Back in KL, it rains every other day...

He does not shows off

Let me remind myself and others about our ikhlas(sincerity).We have to really watch our hearts,if not we have nothing to watch in the akhirat(Hereafter). Below is a short note taken from the book The Ideal Muslim:

The true muslim is the least likely to show off,because doing so reduces reward,cancels out deeds and brings humilation on the Day when mankind is resurrected to meet his Rabb.

The basic principles of Islam are sincerity to towards Allah,in words and in deeds,and worshipping Him,which is the purpose behind the creation of mankind and jinn,as Allah says:

{[I have only created jinns and men,that they serve Me]}-Qur'an 51:56

Bu this worship cannot be accepted unless it is done sincerely for the sake of Allah:

{[And they have been commanded no more than this:to worship Allah,offering Him sincere devotion,being True (in faith)..]}-Qur'an 98:5